At this time, Emperor Chongzhen was still in Tongguan, and when he saw the information fed back by the Grade A eavesdropping seed on Liu Yue's body, he knew that the thieves had arrived in Nanyang and were about to prepare to attack the city. Based on the fact that there is a long way to go from Tongguan to Nanyang, he is not ready to wait any longer, and orders to end the rest.

At the same time, he also immediately sent messengers to send an edict to the elite troops on the periphery, those outside Chen Qiyu's jurisdiction, that is, there were more than 10,000 Yongwei battalions, and Ma Xianglin's headquarters in Sichuan, all of them marched towards Nanyang.

And the Ming soldiers who were originally in Tongguan, because they completely annihilated the Tumut Department that entered the pass, this was an unprecedented victory, and their morale was high. Then swept away the thieves all the way south, and let them see that the emperor is not only wise and martial, but also cares about the people, and takes them to fight against the locust plague together, which makes them feel that they can fight under the emperor's command, and they don't have to worry about logistics, this feeling is simply not too good, and there is no longer the feeling of being tied up before, and they have long thought about it, fight a good battle, and make a war achievement!

Therefore, after hearing the emperor's will to end the rest, the whole army was assembled, and the morale was exceptionally high.

Emperor Chongzhen was also dressed in military uniform, accompanied by Zheng Chongjian, the governor of the three sides, and surrounded by Li Ruolian, the commander of the Jinyi Guard, and a group of Jinyi guards in flying fish suits, and came to the Tongguan School Field.

The number of people is tens of thousands, boundless, not to mention, there are countless war horses. The soldiers were wearing all kinds of armor, holding weapons that reflected the sun, the war horses snorted beside them, and occasionally the front hooves stepped on the ground, this scene in front of him made Emperor Chongzhen feel that the blood in his body began to boil.

Jin Ge Iron Horse, swallowing thousands of miles like a tiger, in this life, he will take this iron horse, step on the world, and return the people to a peaceful day, Zhongxing Daming!

Thinking like this, Emperor Chongzhen, who had a sense of arrogance and dry clouds, said loudly while scanning the soldiers below: "Since I left Beijing, I don't know how many places I have seen, all of them are broken walls and ruins, and there are no traces. These places were originally inhabited by people, but where have they gone now? ”

The captain of the brocade guard with a loud voice at the bottom loudly passed the emperor's words out in relay and passed them on to every soldier to hear.

The soldiers here are basically Qin soldiers, and only a small number are Guanning soldiers, which can be regarded as Liaodong people. However, no matter where they were, they were no strangers to the scene described by the emperor. Whether it is Shaanxi or Liaodong, I don't know how many places that were originally lively, but now only the ruins remain.

Hearing the emperor mention this, some people have seen their familiar places become this kind of scene, and at this time, listening to the emperor mention it, they can't help but feel a little sad; Some people are already numb, and when they hear the emperor mention it at this time, they don't feel much, but they just feel that the emperor seems to be making a fuss, after all, this kind of thing is too common.

"Since I left Beijing, I have often seen a lot of white bones on the roadside and in the wasteland, and I can't help but think, who were they when they were alive? Where are their loved ones? What is the reason why they are so violent that they are not allowed to be buried in the ground? ”

Hearing the emperor mention this, these soldiers who had already been numb to this couldn't help but sigh in their hearts, the reason is still unknown, either they died of war, or they died of hunger, or disease! In this world, the life of ordinary people is not easy!

The morale that was originally high was a little lower because of the influence of these. This made Zheng Chongjian, who was watching from the side, a little surprised in his heart. Judging from his previous performance, the emperor has a talent for leading the army to fight, don't you know the impact of morale on the war? Why do you want to say these things to demoralize the soldiers?

Although he thought so, the emperor was talking, and he didn't have the courage to interrupt the emperor's speech, so he had to frown slightly and continue to listen.

"Floods in the south and drought in the north, the local government is not effective in disaster relief, the people are hungry, sick and die, and the locust plague adds frost to the snow, and there is even more scourge of thieves, and the ravages of the construction captives make the government even more powerless to provide disaster relief, and more people cannot survive. All these things are the reasons why there is no rooster crowing for thousands of miles, and the white bones are exposed in the wild. Emperor Chongzhen's expression became serious, and he said loudly with unusually seriousness, "I will never allow these tragic things to happen to my people endlessly. Therefore, I have promoted talents in an eclectic manner, some of whom are good at water control and some who are good at farming, and I hope that these can be changed, so that my people will no longer be hungry and cold, will not have to be exposed to wind and rain, and will no longer have no money to see a doctor......"

Listening to the emperor's description, most of these Ming soldiers were born in poor people, and they couldn't help but imagine such days, and for a while, they were leisurely fascinated.

“…… I will not suffer from the war, and my people will be able to live and work in peace and contentment! When Emperor Chongzhen said this, he suddenly shouted vigorously, "This is my wish, are you willing to help me?" ”

After these words were shouted, the soldiers of the hussar battalion were the first to react, because they had experienced: "I will follow you to the death!" ”

The soldiers of the Qin army, after hearing this, also shouted: "I am willing to follow to the death!" ”

At this moment, they just thought that they would be able to live the kind of happy life that the emperor said in the future, instead of thinking about making war exploits in exchange for glory and wealth!

At this moment, on this school field, tens of thousands of people gathered together with a kind of unanimous and indestructible momentum, as if they were about to soar into the sky, which made Zheng Chongjian on the side look extremely surprised.

If the morale of the army was high before, then the morale of the army at this moment is not simply described as high.

After a little thought, he suddenly understood. The emperor's words just now are to tell these soldiers what they are fighting for! And what the emperor described is about each of them and their relatives and friends.

The so-called helping the emperor is, more precisely, fighting for themselves, for their relatives and friends!

Thinking of this, Zheng Chongjian looked sideways at the emperor's silhouette, and couldn't help but improve the emperor's ability to lead troops again in his heart. No matter what means are used, raising morale to such a terrifying level, even a flock of sheep can beat the wolf!

Generally speaking, the ancients used glory and wealth to motivate morale, that is, rewards and punishments were clear, and those who could do this were already very good commanders.

However, Emperor Chongzhen, who came from later generations, understood that in addition to the clear rewards and punishments, if the soldiers could know what they were fighting for, that is, let them know that this battle was also fought for themselves, then this army would be more tenacious and brave.

In fact, what Emperor Chongzhen said just now was not deliberately said for this purpose. It's that these things are indeed what he thinks, and what he wants to achieve, just to say them by the way before this expedition.

Seeing the reaction of the soldiers below, Emperor Chongzhen was also pleased, so he said loudly: "I have used a trick to attract all the thieves to Nanyang, and now they are preparing to attack Nanyang. I want to finish my work in one battle, annihilate the thieves under the city of Nanyang, and from then on, my people will no longer have to worry about war. All the soldiers, follow me out to suppress the thieves! ”

"Yes!" Tens of thousands of voices roared out, and the sound shook all over the world.

Only at this time did Emperor Chongzhen turn his head to look at Zheng Chongjian and said, "I led the cavalry army first, and Qing led the infantry army to follow." ”

"Your Majesty, it's better for the ministers to lead the cavalry first and open the way for Your Majesty!" When Zheng Chongjian heard this, he said a little worriedly.

Emperor Chongzhen listened to it and thought, if there is no eavesdropping system, it will be fine for you to lead the cavalry. However, now only I can keep abreast of the movements of the thieves, and I can make adjustments at any time on the road, even if I want you to lead the army, I can't have this ability!

Thinking so, he flatly refused: "Since I have already conquered the expedition, how can I hide behind and enjoy it!" I have made up my mind, no need to say more! ”

After finishing speaking, he strode off the platform, turned over his horse, and set off!

Behind him, followed by nearly 25,000 horsemen, they marched out of Tongguan and stepped into the territory of Henan.

Outside the open-faced encirclement arranged by Chen Qiyu, the governor of the five provinces, there is a net of heaven and earth personally deployed by Emperor Chongzhen, and it is time to close the net.

At this time, the thieves outside Nanyang City, due to the limitation of the scope of exploration, did not know at all that there was such a large net on the periphery that was being closed. At this time, they could only detect the movements within a hundred miles of the surroundings. They feel that they are the strongest at this time!

As far as Nanyang City is concerned, this is really the case. At a glance, the camps of thieves from all walks of life surrounded Nanyang City, boundless, as if all the places outside the city were full of thieves. It's just that it looks really shabby in the future. Of the many bandit camps, only a few had tents, and many more didn't even have tents, just a bonfire surrounded by a large group of ragged bandits.

There is no clear boundary between the thieves. Unlike the regular army, the battalions were separated by a fence and protected by a trench. None of these things.

No, it belongs to the thieves of the department of King Li Zicheng, and the next door where they are sitting is the thief of Cao Cao and Luo Rucai. There were no tents on either side, just a fire, which had been extinguished as soon as it was light.

On the side of Luo Rucai's department, there was a man with a weak figure, who looked at Li Zicheng's department on the side, endured it for a long time, and finally couldn't help but sit there and turned around and asked, "Hey, I said what are you happy about?" It's estimated that the city will be attacked today! ”

Hearing someone speak, someone turned around, and it was also a man who was also weak, a little taller, and said in some surprise: "Shouldn't you be happy?" That dog emperor is in the city! ”

Speaking of this, he paused and said, "My name is Wei Chao, what about you?" ”

"Sun Hanqing."

After Sun Hanqing reported his name, he still said suspiciously: "What does it have to do with you if the emperor is not in the city?" When the time comes, you're not afraid of death? ”

"How can it be okay?" Wei Chao heard this, and said in surprise, "Kill the Dog Emperor, King Chuang sits in the world, Juntian is free of food, do you know?" In the future, you will never be oppressed by the government again, don't you want to? ”

As soon as he heard this, Sun Hanqing glanced at him like a fool and said: "Brother, King Chuang can't sit in the world, and it's not our turn to worry about it. I guess you've been hungry for a few days, right? I still want to think about the future! ”

Hearing them speak, the people next to them all turned their heads to listen to them, but the others didn't immediately interject, just listened.

"Why don't you believe it?" Wei Chao said in surprise, "King Chuang has opened a warehouse to release grain, but now there is not much food, so we eat less." ”

Speaking of this, he remembered something, looked up at Sun Hanqing's side, and didn't find any leaders coming, so he looked at Sun Hanqing again and said: "Let me tell you, King Chuang is different from others, he is a good person, and the government has no way, so he is the one who does the right thing for heaven and fights the world for our people." If one day in the future, the king wins the world, we ordinary people will have a good life. ”

"Hehe, what's different." Sun Hanqing obviously didn't think so, pointed his finger to the opposite side, and then pointed to his side, "What's the difference?" Don't say that you participated voluntarily, not all of them were coerced, otherwise, it would be a dead word! ”

Hearing this, his companions all nodded, with a hint of bitter hatred on their faces.

However, on Wei Chao's side, many people were shaking their heads, and this time, they were talking nonsense.

"I'm voluntary, King Chuang really has to open a warehouse to release grain, but there is too little food!"

"Yes, I did it voluntarily. We will not be able to live anymore, King Chuang is a good person, and in the future, he will be able to have land to plant, and he will be exempt from taxes, and the grain he grows will finally not have to pay taxes, nor will he have to hand it over to those landlords! ”

"Yes, as long as we kill the Dog Emperor and take the Ming Dynasty, we will have a good life!"

“……”

Hearing them say this, there were many people on Sun Hanqing's side, who were obviously a little shaken, and some people even really asked, "Is it true?" Is King Chuang a good person? Can you get the land in the future, and you are exempt from taxes? ”

At this time, suddenly a group of leaders from both sides came over, casually lit up piles of people, and shouted for them to go and eat the buns.

Seeing this situation, Sun Hanqing suddenly whispered: "Look, what's the difference, we all have to be forced to die under the city by them!" ”

When Wei Chao heard this, he wanted to refute, but the leader was urging, so he could only forget it.

It can be clearly seen that there is a clear difference in morale between the people on both sides walking towards their respective camps.

It was probably agreed, and at this time, there was also movement in other camps, and a siege battle was about to begin. And the first to attack the city were these people who were coerced.

They were given a little to eat, and then they were left with sacks of dirt on their backs, guarded by the elite thieves behind them, and with a shout, they rushed to the moat.

The first battle of the thieves attacking Nanyang City began in this way.